Jefferson Smith explains what happened at 1993 college party

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»Play VideoJefferson Smith speaks during a news conference about a college party in 1993 where he ended up hitting a woman. Smith said the woman charged at him after wrongly thinking he pushed her off a couch.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith said during a news conference that he was involved in a 1993 incident where he ended up striking a woman at a college party, although he claims he acted in self-defense.

Smith said the altercation happened at a party between his sophomore and junior year of college. He said a woman he didn’t know was sleeping on a couch when somebody pushed her off the couch. The woman came at Smith swinging, thinking he had pushed her.

During the altercation Smith said he fought back, struck the woman and injured her.

“It happened pretty fast,” Smith said. “I was trying to get her away. Obviously I made contact.”

Smith was cited for assault, but those charges were later dropped, according to the Willamette Week. Smith settled with the woman out of court and agreed to pay for her medical bills.

“I wanted to make sure she was okay and to take responsibility,” Smith said.

He described the night as “the worst night of my life.”

Lara Larson, a high school classmate of Smith's, also spoke at the news conference to defend him.

"She came at him," Larson said. "He did what any one of us would have done in that situation."

Smith also criticized the tone of the campaign, saying too much focus has been made on past issues and not enough time spent talking about the future of the city.

Nigel Jaquiss, a reporter at KATU’s news partners at Willamette Week, and KATU’s Hillary Lake join host Steve Dunn to discuss the lawsuits surrounding Oregon’s failed Cover Oregon, those personal emails Kitzhaber’s office asked to be deleted from state servers and the investigations into him and his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes.

Democrat Speaker Pro Temp Tobias Read and Republican House Minority Leader Mike McLane join KATU’s Steve Dunn to discuss the impact former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s resignation will have on the work in the Legislature.